Sunday, December 8, 2013

Scarpetta v. Spence-Chapin Adoption Service case brief

Appellant adoption agency challenged an
order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First
Judicial Department (New York), which affirmed an order that
sustained a writ of habeas corpus that directed appellant to
surrender respondent mother's infant to her.

CASE FACTSThe intermediate court affirmed an
order that sustained a writ of habeas corpus and directed appellant
adoption agency to surrender respondent's infant to her.

DISCUSSION

The court
affirmed that order on appeal.

The court reasoned that holding that
respondent's surrender to appellant constituted an abandonment as a
matter of law would have frustrated the policy of N.Y. Soc.
Serv. Law § 383(1) to allow respondent to regain custody of her
child based on showings of improvidence in surrendering the child to
appellant, of the child's best interests being promoted by a return
to respondent, and of respondent's ability to care for the child.

The
court also held that allowing the prospective adoptive parents to
intervene as a matter of right would have violated the legislative
scheme that prevented disclosing the names of the natural parents and
prospective adoptive parents to each other.

Preventing the
prospective adoptive parents from intervening did not deprive them of
due process of law so as to invalidate the trial court's award of
custody to respondent because they did not have legal custody of the
baby.

CONCLUSION
The court affirmed the order of the appellate division.Suggested law school course materials, hornbooks, and guides for Constitutional Law
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